Cool Runnings (1993) - 6 questions

Question: Is it true that the man who played the coach died when filming his next film?

Answer: John Candy, who played the coach, did indeed die during the filming of "Wagons East!", which was released in 1994. His final ever film - for which he shot his scenes prior to signing up for "Wagons East!" - was called "Canadian Bacon", released in 1995. For the record, both of these films are extremely poor, and not worth hunting down to watch.

Question: Does anyone know a website that tells the full, true story of the Jamaican bobsled team? I liked to get a look at all the differences between the film and what actually happened. I tried to search for it on Google, but all I am coming up with is things about the movie, not the actual event.

Answer: The events depicted in Cool Runnings of the improbable Jamaican bobsled team were actually quite accurate, according to this page http://www.factmonster.com/spot/02olcrunnings.html.

Question: How accurate is this film to portraying what actually happened? Such as the three sprinters tripping, Dorice tracking down an ex-bobsled cheat and then entering the Olympics with three months practice time, them chasing the sled on their first push start, them beating the Swiss's start time, etc.

Answer: Only part of this is accurate. The sprinters did in fact trip and almost fall in the Olympics. There was one member of the team who did join just a few months ahead of the games but not a former cheater. The basic idea of the bobsled is to get off a huge start, then get in smoothly. The only person who needs a tonne of experience is the driver or else the sled can flip over on the track, which incidentally it did both in the film and at the Olympics. Also, they did lose the sled on startup once and almost did several other times too. Finally they did beat the Swiss start time, however, Jamaicans tend to be strong sprinters, which is just one element of the race.

Question: When the Jamaican bobsled team returned to the next Olympics, did they have the same members as before?

Answer: Yes.

Question: If only three of the guys are sprinters, and Sanka Coffee is not, how can Sanka keep up with the others when they're doing their push-starts?

Answer: They are sprinters and so can run very fast on dry land whilst NOT pushing a huge metal bobsled. They can pushstart faster than most teams but nowhere near sprinter speeds. Sanka is used to pushstarts like this from his pushcart races and so is able to keep up over the short starts.

Question: In the true story of "Cool Runnings" did they really carry their sled to the finish line?

Answer: Yes.